POP Gourmet Foods
For the complete story on at POP Gourmet Foods, the 2015 Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery Snack Producer of the Year, see “POP Gourmet’s explosive momentum.”
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Since its inception in late 2011, business at POP Gourmet Foods, Tukwila, WA—our 2015 Snack Producer of the Year—has exploded, with significantly expanded sales and production over the last four years, growing 350–400 percent year-over-year, per David Israel, founder and CEO. POP Gourmet manufactures a wide range of upscale ready-to-eat popcorn products, many of which are co-branded, along with potato chips, croutons and other products.
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The first product POP Gourmet released stems from a time when David Israel was incarcerated and he witnessed the creation of a rather unique product by some of the inmates. “When you’re in a minimum-security prison,” he says, “you can use a microwave. They would pop popcorn, melt caramel, blend peanut butter into the caramel, mix it all together and then toss in M&M’s, chopped Rocky Road candy bars, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. They’d make it in a big, clean garbage bag, portion it into smaller bags and trade it out to people.” After trying this fantastic concoction, he thought, “This could be a business.” The result was a big hit.
“Even though David was innocent and falsely accused,” says Valencia Wolf, VP of customer care and support, “he and his wife now wouldn’t change one thing.”
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In a search for differentiation, David Israel began brainstorming, considering on-trend, upscale flavors. These initial results yielded White Truffle and Chocolate Salted Caramel flavors. He heard that Oprah Winfrey was fond of the White Truffle product. “So we sent a case to O Magazine,” he says. Two weeks after we sent it, the phone rings on a Friday afternoon, and it’s O Magazine. They say, ‘We love your product. Oprah is coming into town tomorrow. We’d love to have some for her and would like to order five cases.’ They ordered it a few more times, and then a few months later, Oprah puts us in the magazine—part of her ‘Favorite Things’ for the month.” The next thing Israel knew, retail buyers were calling in orders. “It really was a launching pad for us,” he says. “There was a ripple effect.”
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While the name Huy Fong Foods might not ring many bells outside of the food industry, the company’s Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce—with that iconic rooster on the bottle—certainly has. David Israel was set on producing sriracha popcorn—but not using any sriracha. He wanted Huy Fong. After initially not receiving any response from Huy Fong, he wrote them a letter. “I explained my company, what we did, who we partnered with. I told them the story—and that they should let me do a Huy Fong Sriracha popcorn.” He also continued to refine his sriracha popcorn—using Huy Fong’s legendary “rooster sauce,” dehydrated—and sent samples to David Tran, founder and owner of the company, and his team. Then, Israel finally received a response. Tran loved the samples, and POP Gourmet could proceed with the co-branded effort, as long as it was made with their sauce and Huy Fong could approve the packaging and the final product. The product has seen amazing demand.
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All things sriracha have flooded the market over the past year or so. POP Gourmet’s relationship with Huy Fong Foods yielded a new powdered product that’s used on the company’s signature popcorn, but it also stands alone as a product in its own right. Now people can add Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chili Spice to anything their heart desires.
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POP Gourmet recently finished construction of a brand-new plant in Tukwila—its fourth plant in just three years. “It is designed for efficiencies, long and short production runs, and 10 times the production capability,” says Valencia Wolf, adding that it features five lines, with three dedicated lines. “We made a significant investment into equipment, and the automation is used strategically, since we are committed to handcrafting our products. Our extraordinary growth has driven our need to increase the size of our plants so frequently.”
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Packaging is one area where automation made sense, and Israel notes that he has implemented certain mechanisms to help streamline manufacturing. He also notes that he automated portions of the caramelization process for the caramel and butter toffee products—but not at the expense of the quality. Two of the lines in the Tukwila facility are side-by-side, each outfitted with 12 large poppers that can each yield 650 pounds per hour. After popping, they dump onto a conveyor that runs to spray seasoning and packaging via the plant’s five new automated form/fill/seal packaging machines.
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Another co-branded success story for POP Gourmet is its Rogue Blue Cheese Popcorn. “I was looking for a cheese, a brand,” says David Israel. “I didn’t want it to be just another cheese on the shelf.” A supplier recommended Rogue Creamery’s award-winning blue cheese. “So she introduced me to David Gremmels at a Fancy Food show.” Israel had someone dehydrate the Rogue blue cheese and made samples. Gremmels loved the product, and they moved forward. The fact that the project would require 50,000 pounds of Rogue blue cheese to yield 5,000 pounds of powder—the projected amount needed for a year—caused some hesitation in Gremmels, considering the strong demand for his cheese. Israel explains: “So I said, ‘David, look, this is a great opportunity. And you’re still selling your product. And I’m going to put it on a product that’s going to get exposure, immediately going into T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and some of the other national accounts we had set up.” Gremmels thought about it for a while and then agreed to move forward. “And,” exclaims Israel, “I put him in the powder business!” Now Rogue sells Blue Heaven powdered blue cheese—the same powder Israel uses for the popcorn—in Whole Foods Market and other retailers.
Now POP Gourmet has expanded into the potato chip business, offering Rogue Blue Potato Chips and Sriracha Potato Chips.
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POP Gourmet’s Fire Corn and White Cheddar Fire Corn products also have a story behind them, with a portion of sales revenue benefiting the Heritage Flight Museum and the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation (learn more about Greg Anders and the Heritage Flight Museum on the Fire Corn website). The popcorn is popped with fresh slices of jalapeño right in the kettle. People loved the crispy jalapeño slices in the product so much, they asked if they could buy them on their own—and POP Gourmet was happy to deliver.
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POP Gourmet has co-branded products down to a science. Another effort in this arena is the company’s work with noted Northwest chef Tom Douglas, yielding a line dubbed Rub With Love. The Smoky BBQ & Northwest Cheddar Popcorn is made with Tom’s Smoky Barbecue Spice Rub, applewood smoked paprika with “all the spices and herbs found ’round the grill,” along with Northwest Cheddar cheese. Other flavors in the line include African Peri Peri and Chinese 12-Spice.